[HPforGrownups] My "blood of the enemy" post revisited

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 10102

Trina wrote:

> Okay, I must clarify my previously muddled post.  Yes, being bound to
> a tombstone and cut with a rather sharp knife is "forcibly taken." I
> do not argue against that whatsoever.  What I was thinking, but
> didn't express well (or at all, for that matter) is that that given
> that this potion seems very complicated and must be done carefully,
> perhaps there are *degrees* of the force in which the blood of the
> enemy is taken.  Therefore, the blood of an enemy who is bound and
> can't put up much of a fight (or any at all) causes the potion to
> work to a lesser degree than the blood of an enemy who put up a
> pretty good fight to keep it in his own body.

There's been some discussion on magic on the list, and I think there was
an idea that *intent* has a lot to do with the outcome of the spell. The
spellcaster's intent works with the spell to produce the result. In this
case, I think the operative words are "enemy" and "forcibly taken."
Moody, at Hogwarts, could have forcibly taken blood from Harry at any
time, but that would not have satisfied the "enemy" parameter. I think
*both* sides of the blood-taking have to understand the relationship of
enmity for this to work. Moody was not ready to reveal himself, and thus
would have had to explain his actions somehow, and thus his relationship
as Harry's enemy, and Harry's as his, would not have been perceived by
Harry. Harry, as the blood supplier, had to understand himself as the
taker's enemy as well.

--Amanda